Friday, November 11, 2011

There's also the Franchise Changer sales pitch. If you're just looking at signing Albert Pujols the baseball player, you might not give this man eight or 10 years at age 32, no matter how great a player he is. But say you're a team like the Marlins, trying to put your franchise on the map as you move into a new ballpark. Or say you're the Dodgers, desperate to restore the luster of the franchise. Then signing The Best Player in Baseball becomes more than just a baseball transaction. "If I was running the Dodgers, I'd sign Albert Pujols in a heartbeat," one veteran agent said. "He could enhance the value of the franchise by $200-250 million. I know that sounds high, but you have to look at the ability to market [the player], the ability to raise prices. The TV contract alone would go up at least 20 percent. This isn't just another player we're talking about. This is Albert Pujols."

You lock up the Cy Young winner and the MVP who you have cultivated in your own system and make them franchise players. But you don't splash it on a still good but quickly aging star. Spend the rest on a catcher, a couple infielders.

Hell, we should pay the Wilson Ramos kidnappers the ransom then just bring him to LA.

I got no issue with FJL as long as the power numbers come from somewhere else. Unless you're going to put Yanquis money out there, you're not going to get plus power from every position. Don't we need find a real solution for 2B, 3B, and LF first?